Alexander Noyes writes on how to defeat a ruler whose family has been in power for 50 years

Alexander Noyes and Ekoutiamé A. Ahlin have co-authored an article for the Washington Post's 'Monkey Cage' blog (23 July) about President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo, entitled "Can you defeat a ruler whose family has been in power for nearly 50 years? Some lessons for Togo's opposition".

In it they write, "To be clear, Togo’s competitive authoritarian electoral system is tilted in favor of Gnassingbé and his Union for the Republic (UNIR) party. But the opposition’s disunity in the 2015 elections once again stifled chances for democratization in the country. In the run-up to the election, Togo’s opposition was unable to rally behind a single candidate. A total of five opposition candidates ran. Still other opposition parties boycotted the vote entirely."